American International Group Inc. is preparing to pay its outgoing general counsel Anastasia Kelly several million dollars in severance after she resigned over federal pay curbs, according to people familiar with the matter.
AIG determined that its top in-house lawyer was entitled to the money under the company’s severance plan, whose terms say certain executives can resign and collect severance if their pay is reduced significantly, the people said. The move comes amid recent scrutiny of Ms. Kelly’s actions in a December pay dispute involving her and four other senior executives. AIG’s board engaged an outside law firm, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, this month to review Ms. Kelly’s actions after she advised other executives on what they could do to protect their rights to collect severance benefits. Ms. Kelly also helped them arrange for outside counsel, a spokesman for her has previously said.